Nov 30, 2016You have to remember, we’re the Freemasons. Only, we’ve got a sense of humor. You have to wield power with a sense of humor. Otherwise you become the FBI.
↩︎ D Magazine
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Barrett Brown is free from prison, but not from the crime he didn't commit.
- The journalist is out after four-plus years in prison, but he'll continue to pay. Updated Nov 30, 2016 ago
- A profile of Brown pre-arrest, when he was still known (paradoxically) as the "spokesman for Anonymous."
- Highlights from the marvel that was Brown's "Review of Arts and Letters and Prison."
Journalist Barrett Brown is free, but will continue to pay
Back on the outside for the first time in 4 years, Barrett enjoys an Egg McMuffin. #FreeBB pic.twitter.com/bLbX21ZcTJ
— Free Barrett Brown (@FreeBarrett_) November 29, 2016
Journalist Barrett Brown was released from a Texas federal prison yesterday after serving over four years behind bars.
Brown was convicted after taking a plea bargain that admitted a role in the alleged hack of Stratfor—which he had nothing to do with until after the fact. He will continue to pay Stratfor some $200 a month for accessing data that had been independently hacked and available online for months by the time he saw it.
The marvel that was Barrett's "Review of Arts and Letters and Prison"
Barrett Brown's "review of arts and letters and prison" column, first published by D Magazine and then the Intercept, is one of the very best inside-prison looks at the horrors of the criminal justice system.
On ersatz Dungeons & Dragons, reading Gaddafi in "the hole," eating mouse, and Kissinger's biography, Brown's dispatches are lucid, funny, and terrifying, especially given the weakness of the federal case that convicted him.
Nov 30, 2016We live in a sort of silly cultural hell where the columns are composed by Thomas Friedman, the novels are written by Jonathan Franzen, the debate is framed by CNN, and the fact-checking is done by no one.
↩︎ The Intercept
One of the activities that earned Brown such a harsh sentence was his series of "threats" made against FBI agent Robert Smith, which he did while going through withdrawal and unwisely posted to YouTube.
Watching the video now, with what passes for online discourse in the year 2016, feels almost quaint.
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